Failure Umbridge
by rhead-a-holyc
Summary: He had never been able to do anything right, even the one thing he never should have failed at.


**Notes:** Quidditch League Round 3 Ballycastle Bats Keeper: Write about the Umbridge family [Word Count: 1198]

* * *

"Mum, I've fallen in love."

He was embarrassed, and terrified. Orford wished the ground would reach up and disappear with him in its grasp. It almost made him wish that he had agreed to the arranged marriage his mother had proposed, but that meant that he would never have met _her_.

"I wonder which nice Pureblood woman has caught your eye? Is it the Nott heiress? Or perhaps the younger Black?" There was a glint of teasing in her eye, but also relief. Her failure of a son had finally managed to do something right.

Orford shook his head. "She's a Muggle, Mum. She's beautiful."

"Is this why you've been going into the Muggle world so often lately?" His mother's expression tightened in displeasure. "I knew this would happen. I warned you, Orford!"

"I'm sorry, Mum, but she was so kind to me. Then she asked me to visit her again…"

"You will cease this relation at once. Understood? You will also cease this fascination with Muggles." It was a demand that Orford didn't know if he could acquiesce. It would be so sudden, and he would hurt Ellen so much.

"Can I not just go to say 'goodbye'?" Orford pleaded, hoping that his mother would listen to him for once.

"It would be better if you didn't. I shudder to think what your father would say if he found out about this." His mother wordlessly dismissed him as she left the room, the cloud of annoyance hanging over him. Orford knew that it would be better if he obeyed his mother, but he simply couldn't.

He couldn't stand the thought of Ellen waiting for him; Ellen getting upset because he never shows up at their meeting spot. Orford didn't think he would physically be able to stay away from Ellen.

Ellen was everything the wizarding world had never been to him. He couldn't give that up for a wizarding world that had never wanted him.

…oOo…

" _How could you_ , Orford?" His mother's screech greeted him the second he stepped into the Manor. "I specifically ordered you not to see her!"

"How could I have left her waiting for me?" Orford asked back, trying to remain calm in the face of his mother's fury. Getting angry would only make the situation worse, Orford knew that from experience.

"The same way you chose to disobey your mother!" Her wand was in his face before he could blink. His own wand was in the strap on his arm, but would be useless in defending against whatever spell his mother thought of throwing at him this time. It would serve him better to run for cover in that time.

"I want to marry her, Mum. I love her. Weren't you the one to tell me it was time to settle down with a nice girl?" He knew he shouldn't throw her own words back at her, but he couldn't help it. There was bitterness seeping into his heart now, and all he wanted was to be happy.

He had found his happiness in the Muggle world. How could his mother not see that? Why couldn't she accept that? He didn't want to continue searching for this 'more' that his parents were fond of. Orford wanted to be happy with what he had.

"Marry her and you will be disowned from this family! After everything we've done for you, how could you do this to us? Your own family, Orford!"

It had never been a family, at least not to Orford. He had been the puppet to his parents' machinations for as long as he could remember. They had wanted to use him to marry into the Sacred Twenty-Eight, but he hadn't been handsome nor magically apt enough to have been noticed by them.

"I would rather marry her than be a part of this family."

It was the bravest, and stupidest, thing he had ever said. He was fearful of the outcome, but he had asked Ellen already. He may not have a job yet, but he was no longer fresh out of Hogwarts either. Orford knew that he would be able to find someone who would pay him enough to support a family.

"Then _leave_ , and don't even think of returning. Your precious Muggle will leave you, because Muggles are fickle and uncivilised. She wouldn't think twice of leaving you."

Orford left, already knowing where he was going to go, ready to prove his mother wrong.

…oOo…

It was his mother who was proven right in the end.

Ellen had left, several years after they had finally married. He had never thought that his _magic_ would ever be a problem, because his inability to harness it had been a problem in the Wizarding world. Orford would have given it all up, had it not been for Delores.

Delores was still in Hogwarts. She needed someone who was in the Wizarding world, even if it was a disowned Pureblood like him. Orford could still remember the viciousness of the Slytherins from his own years within Hogwarts' walls; he could see the growing viciousness in Delores' eyes.

Perhaps if Delores had been born a Squib like Ivan was, they would still have been a family—Ellen wouldn't have left. That would be his biggest regret, but Delores was still a child. He couldn't abandon her like Ellen had.

So, whenever Delores came home for the holidays, he made sure to greet her with a smile. Orford made sure to appear as if nothing affected him—not Ellen leaving, not his new job as a cleaner at the Minister of Magic, and not the fact that he could see how much she despised him.

He would never tell her that he despised her just the same. Delores was just a child, after all, being born with magic wasn't her fault.

…oOo…

"Father, I want you to quit your job." There was a demand hidden in her words, and Orford knew that Delores wasn't going to accept a refusal. He was too old now, too tired, to argue and fight with Delores. It had been a long time since he had won any of their arguments. She was a true Slytherin now—his mother would have been impressed.

Delores would start working in the Ministry tomorrow, in the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts department. If he agreed, Orford wouldn't even be able to see Delores on her first day of work, something he had been looking forward to for a very long time.

"See, I will give you an allowance every month. The amount will be higher than your usual salary, so you won't have to go to work anymore. Won't that be nice?"

Orford wondered when his daughter's voice had taken on that sickly-sweet quality. It was so much like his mother's that it made him shudder.

But Orford smiled, "That would be nice, wouldn't it?"

"Perfect!" Delores tittered. "I'll send you the first amount soon."

Delores left with a strut that was so terribly reminiscent of his mother's, when she had forbidden him from going into the Muggle world so many years ago, that Orford almost wished he had listened to his mother.


End file.
